The San Diego Padres' ongoing quest for a World Series (or at least a playoff title). "You know that many runners enter a race, but only one of them wins the prize. So run to win! Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

Not What I Expected

It’s been a week since the season started, and so far, I have not seen what I expected from this Padres team. I guess I’m really learning the lesson that the spring doesn’t tell you anything about what the regular season is going to look like. So far, that’s very true for the Padres.

In the spring, we were hitting, running, pitching, dominating, and winning. But in the first six games of the season, I have seen almost nothing of that. It’s very disappointing, and I have to admit that I thought we were going to be much better than this. Maybe I was biased and too hopeful, but just as you can’t judge a regular season by spring training, I believe that you can’t judge a regular season by its first few games. So I’ve still got a lot of hope for this team.

We’ve only stolen four bases. We’ve struck out 56 times, which leads the majors. Our team batting average is .218. Not good. Not good at all.

We’ve had two excellent wins. I mean, not every game is perfect, but both of those wins were amazing. On Saturday, we won against Colorado in 14 innings. I guess that a 2-4 record against division rivals isn’t that bad, but it’s not what I expected at all.

There’s something extremely essential to every baseball game, and that’s the starting pitching. So far, our starting pitching has been very iffy. We’ve allowed 11 home runs, which is second only to the Angels, who have given up 12. Jon Garland’s had two starts, and he’s only gone ten innings, allowed six runs, and he’s 0-2.

In Kevin Correia’s first start, he went six innings, but he allowed four runs and is 0-1.

Clayton Richard’s 0-1. Mat Latos allowed four runs in six innings. Chris Young is the only starter with a really quality start this season, and guess what? Saddest news I’ve heard about this team in a long time, but Chris is going on the DL. Again. Again. Again. ARGH!!!

This makes me soooo sad. I was so thrilled about CY’s incredible start last week, and I am totally depressed that he’s back there again. I’m sick of having him on the DL. I’m sure that he’s very sick of it, too. But it’s gotta be so unbelievably frustrating. I know it is for me. This guy can pitch so well, we saw that last week, but he just can’t see to catch a break and stay heathy!!! It’s so awful. Sigh. Well, I really, really hope that he’ll be fine after this and will be able to come back as quickly as possible. Get well soon, Chris. We miss you already.

So CY was supposed to be starting this afternoon’s home opener, but that’s obviously not going to happen, so Kevin Correia is taking his place. That shouldn’t be a problem, just as long as he can hang in there for a long time without giving up anything.

I don’t know what our problem was last week. Granted, we were faced up against some pitchers who were absolutely unhittable. But why can’t our pitchers be like that? Why aren’t they the ones shutting down the other team’s hitters? Maybe it was because we were not at home. Maybe we’re just adjusting to real games. I don’t know what it was, but it’s gotta change ASAP.

But on the other hand, I don’t believe that these few games can tell us how the rest of the season’s going to be. Baseball is way to fickle for that. Who knows? We could be like this all season. We could have a turnaround and be winning two out of every three instead of only one out of three. We could have a long losing streak or a long winning streak. We just don’t know what’s going to happen, and it’s very likely that we’ll go through both extremes.

We have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen this season. Isn’t that amazing? If we didn’t have that uncertainty, baseball would be incredibly boring. But we’ve got that unknown, so it keeps us watching. We see teams come out of nowhere and win big time. We see the biggest and the best teams have complete meltdowns.

Frankly, I don’t think we’ll really know what’s going to happen with the Padres until the last week of the season. Then we’ll be completely sure that we’re either going to have another average season or we’re going to the playoffs. This team is going to keep me guessing all season long. I just hope that we’ll be winning most of that time.

Today is Opening Day. Sure, I know it was officially a week ago, but this is really it. We unfortunately had to start the season on the road, but this is really the beginning, right here in San Diego. Every series is a new beginning.

I wanted to say a few words about Trevor Hoffman. As I’m sure a lot of you know, he’s on the quest for 600 saves. Can I just say that it’s a huge shame that he’s not with the Padres right now? Just think of the publicity the Padres and San Diego would be getting. I think the front office should trade for him right away. Just think of the headlines.

Also, Trev’s blown two games in a row, and the Brewers seem to be getting a little worried. I think that’s even more reason to get him over here now. Of course, the manager said that he’s going to use Trevor ’cause Trevor’s his closer, but they always say that just because he’s Trevor. So, I think that the Brewers should get him off their backs so they don’t have to worry about him blowing games for them. Why not send him back to where they got him from?

I really really really really really really miss Trevor!!! And I still think that the front office were complete idiots to get rid of him. Grrrrrrrr.

Well, the game’s starting in about two hours!! I’m super excited!! We’d better get a big win.

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